Touching the side of his neck gingerly, 30-year-old Withawat Kunwong reveals a jagged network of scars he received after being attacked at a poultry farm where he had been working in southern Israel.
The Thai government has called for the release of all remaining citizens being held in Gaza. So far at least 33 Thai nationals have been killed, according to figures shared by Thai authorities with CNN – with 18 Thai nationals still being held hostage as of October 26.
I'm glad this man was released, and I hope the rest are released soon.
I do wonder about the sustainability of importing labor from half way around the world when there is a huge pool of jobless young people kilometers away. I realize its probably for security reasons, but it speaks to the economic barriers that are in the way to integration of the populations.
“During the 1990s, migrant workers (began to) replace Palestinians working in construction sites and agriculture fields as Palestinians workers became unwelcome and ‘unreliable’ due to regular lock downs and security issues,” Ladizhinskaya added.
...Kunwong was left for dead, heavily bleeding from the wound in his throat. He was eventually found and cared for by other migrant workers. He managed to survive, he believes, because the knife had been blunt and broken.
He wasn't released by Hamas. He escaped the hell of October 7th by sheer luck.
speaks to the economic barriers that are in the way to integration of the populations
There were many Palestinians living in the West Bank and even from Gaza who would enter Israel to work in various industries (mostly agriculture and construction) prior to October 7th. Most legally with work visas, and some illegally. I doubt that that level of economic cooperation will ever return.
It's weird how this article seems to hint at Thai workers being exploited. I read elsewhere they're paid 5-6 times what they would be making at home... Not to say the system isn't fucky but it doesn't seem these workers are being duped into this
The Israeli regulations around employing any foreign worker are very fair on paper (Google Translate), but there are regular stories highlighting various abuses of the system.
The only rights they don't get compared to an Israeli citizen seem to be around some retirement benefits and some social security stuff. In many ways, it's more complicated than employing an Israeli as they are required to provide them with housing and some industries have required levels of overtime.
stop caring for downvotes on this topic. this discussion has lost its objectivity a long time ago and the current meta is that israel is bad and should somehow bow to terrorism.
If Hamas releases every single hostage they have, they cannot prove they have no more hostages. So the situation would not change.
There is no de-escalation from the current positions, there is going to be an invasion, and Hamas is going to be destroyed, at least as it exist today.
Lol, lets just assume for simplicity this is exactly what Hamas demands:
Cease-Fire agreement if we release the Hostages
Israel doesn't care, they already killed several hostages in the bombing runs. Hell the US probably had to tell them to hold back to give them more time for negotiations. They will not accept any agreement with Hamas, so the only thing Hamas would accomplish releasing the Hostages with no agreement would be an instant full invasion.
Moreover, the actual demands from Hamas are basically cease fire + release arrested hamas members in exchange for hostages. Surprisingly, I don't think they actually made one of those impossible demands like "cease the existence of Israel's government"
The reason Hamas is trickling out hostages is because unlike Israel, every other nation does care about the hostages, especially the international ones. Hamas knows this, and can use it as leverage to force Israel to either slow down, stop, or eventually negotiate some sort of agreement. The most important one obviously being the American hostages because the USA has direct military involvement and leverage over Israel.
I'm pretty sure that's not true. Hamas has already tried that path, but Israel is out for blood. Netenyahu's position is that the incursion should proceed even though it'll kill hostages.
Why wouldn't Israel be out for blood? America glassed entire countries when provoked, why did anyone think or expect Israel to just take the Oct 7 attack and shrug it off/not react? Fuck Hamas and their "peace attempts" after murdering festival goers and families.
Wait, did I understand this correctly? Even if there are a lot of unemployed Palestinians and Lebanese that will work for cheap, they prefer to hire a semi-slave from another continent?